CMO Spotlight: Eduardo Conrado, SVP and CMO of Motorola Solutions

Eduardo Conrado is the Senior Vice President and CMO of Motorola Solutions. Conrado has built his career and diverse global marketing skill set by mastering many leadership roles working across the venerable 83-year old brand, bolstered by a well-rounded education via a Master’s in Business Administration from ESADE in Barcelona, Spain, a Master’s in international management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering degree from Texas Tech University. As Motorola Solutions goes through an important transformation as a B2B stand-alone company and, we caught up with Eduardo to get his views on brand, solutions marketing and the essential skills of marketers today.

You have done a tremendous amount of evaluation and work on the Motorola brand. Give us an update.

Motorola turned 83 this past month. As we hit this milestone we dug into a series of tough questions all centered on ‘What does the brand really stand for?’. We used the process to review what our brand stands for today and what it will be/needs to be in the future. What we learned is an affirmation of what has been true in the past and even more true now for Motorola Solutions – “We help people be at their best in the moments that matter”. It is a simple, but powerful purpose that provides focus for Motorola Solutions team and a promise to our customers and partners.

Talk about the importance of brand today in an increasingly lead-centric world? for B2B marketers.

Brand is the cornerstone of what marketing does. The brand component defines and differentiates you as a company. Sales enablement and solutions are critical, but will not be effective without a strong brand. We spend a great deal of time with executives, and the team, translating values into behaviors, so the brand is true at every customer touch point. Today, marketing must be more than ad campaigns and lead generation. Marketing needs to define and bring to life what the company stands for and translate these values into customer and employee experiences. This effort will drive profitable revenue and better relationships with the customer set.

What is the big marketing focus for Motorola Solutions over next 12 months?

We are focused on all elements of integrated marketing. I’ll pick an important one for us, solutions marketing. This simply means translating a complex portfolio of innovative products and technologies into solutions for our customers. Let me give you an example. Traditionally we focused on bringing to market individual products or technologies. Just recently, in the public safety sector, we launched a fully integrated solution at a major industry event. We teamed up with a major automaker – from the design phase through market delivery – to integrate 7 new, individual products into a single solution for public safety professionals. The integrated solution combined many safety features, such as voice-activated calling and smart release of firearms, all things built into the vehicle that prepares and protects the public safety professional and the constituents they serve. Post the event, we are now showcasing the integrated solution around the country, taking the solution on the road for our customers and prospects to see our products in action. This is showing versus telling, a key component in effective marketing.

What is Motorola doing in the area of social media and how are you building community and conversations? Can you point us to some specific examples.

Motorola Solutions is active across social media – on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook (pages for our Foundation and Public Safety, among others), YouTube, and beyond. We speak in three languages on Twitter – we’re out there Tweeting in English (@MotoSolutions, @MotPublicSafety, @MotoRetail), Spanish (@MotorolaLatAm) and Portuguese (@MotorolaSol_BR). We’ve got active blog sites focusing on what’s next in public safety and enterprise mobility – www.motorolasolutions.com/nextgen and www.motorolasolutions.com/emb, and a new kid on the block, Fresh Ideas in Two-Way Communications. Our website also invites visitors to follow our social accounts and invites them to “like” us on Facebook, give us a +1 on Google or Tweet any page link. Our comments are open on our blogs and YouTube, and we encourage a free exchange of ideas.

Right brain/left brain – what do you consider the most important emphasis/skill set for marketing pros today?

You have to have and develop both. You have to be a dreamer and capture imagination. We have new tools to help us be more analytical – marketing automation and CRM for targeting and online analytics. We just went through a skill assessment and mapped this out. For example, we wanted our product marketing team to understand creative and, just as importantly, our marketing campaign people to become more analytical and learn the technology. Otherwise you can’t translate into a solution and the much needed product and marketing ideation that are so critical to our business. We believe you need to constantly identify and develop skill sets needed in the organization and put a formal process around it. And, lastly, the reason is you have a team is building a strong collective organization with unique and complimentary skill sets.

About Eduardo Conrado

Eduardo Conrado is senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Motorola Solutions. He leads the global team that has been the force behind Motorola Solutions’ successful integrated marketing strategy. Conrado ensures there is a single unified voice across all communication channels — from branding and marketing strategies, to product and channel marketing, to global communications and interactive marketing. He recently led the creation and rollout of Motorola Solutions’ new strategic brand framework, including the company’s purpose, brand promise, values and voice.

Throughout his 18-year career at Motorola, Conrado has moved through a variety of key leadership roles. Most recently, he served as senior vice president, Global and Technology Marketing and Communications. Prior to that assignment, he was corporate vice president of Global Marketing and Communications for Motorola’s Networks & Enterprise businesses. Prior to that, he was vice president of Global Marketing, Public Relations and Industry Analyst Relations for Motorola Networks. This position was preceded with multiple international business and marketing assignments in a range of consumer and B2B segments across Motorola.

Conrado holds a master’s degree in business administration from ESADE in Barcelona, Spain, a master’s degree in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University. He serves on the board of directors for the Association of National Advertisers and the Business Marketing Association and on the advisory board of Thunderbird School of Global Management.